Nepal Photos

Boudhanath Temple, Kathmandu

In Kathmandu, the devout light oil lamps at Boudhanath, a stupa patterned on a mandala design. Buddhists walk around the sacred monuments clockwise, the same direction a prayer wheel spins.

Hindu Text

Photograph by Maggie Steber

Hands move across a classic Hindu text. In Nepal, a country of over 28 million, more than 80 percent of the population is Hindu, with Buddhists and Muslims making up most of the minority.

Barley Fields, Mustang

Photograph by David Stubbs/Aurora Photos

Small girls traverse a barley field beneath barren mountain peaks in the windswept region of Mustang. Located north of the main Himalayan massif, Mustang is cut off from the Indian monsoon that waters much of Nepal. Snowmelt from mountain peaks and scant summer rains feed the region’s carefully maintained system of irrigation channels.

Boudhanath Temple, Kathmandu

Fluttering prayer flags frame watchful eyes on the spire of Boudhanath, Nepal’s largest stupa. The monasteries near the stupa have become a global center of Tibetan Buddhism.

Mani Rimdu Festival

Photograph by Robb Kendrick

The solemn demeanor of a monk from Thame monastery belies some of the lighter moods of Mani Rimdu, an annual festival of drama and dance to banish evil spirits. Despite Western influence, Buddhism remains an anchor in the changing world of the Sherpas, an ethnic group of devout Buddhists living in northeastern Nepal.

Copper Horns, Lo Manthang

Photograph by Jill Gocher/AsiaImages/Aurora Photos

Buddhist monks blow copper horns from a roof in the Mustang capital of Lo Manthang, near Nepal’s border with Tibet. Remoteness and decades of political isolation insulated Mustang from foreign influence for many years, preserving much of the region’s Buddhist heritage.

Himalaya Peaks

Photograph by Jeff Davids, Your Shot

A panorama taken from Gokyo Ri shows the highest peaks of the Himalaya at dusk. Among them is Mount Everest (at left), which has beckoned the world’s most intrepid climbers to its lofty summit.

Swayambhunath Stupa

Photograph by Alison Wright

Young monks don sunglasses before dozens of butter lamps at Swayambhunath Stupa, a Buddhist temple in Kathmandu Valley. The gold-spired stupa is also known as the “Monkey Temple,” named for the population of rhesus monkeys that roam its grounds.

Nepalese Sadhu

The face of a Hindu ascetic, or sadhu, is layered with traditional paint. Sadhus devote themselves to the spiritual life, own few possessions, and typically depend on donations to survive.

Dumje Festival

Photograph by Robb Kendrick

Decorum demands the correct headgear for the summer festival of Dumje, one of the most elaborate ceremonies of the Sherpas, the hardy people of Nepal’s Khumba region in the valley beneath Mount Everest. Buddhist monks don saffron-hued tse-sha while laymen favor cowboy-style hats introduced by tourists.

Prayer Wheel

Photograph by Ethan Welty/Aurora Photos

A trekker spins the giant prayer wheel at the Buddhist nunnery in Devuche, a village in the Khumbu region of the Himalaya and a stop for some climbers on the trail to Mount Everest.

Thorung La Pass, Annapurna Range

Photograph by Helmut Zhang, My Shot

A hiker is dwarfed by a snowy rise on the 17,769-foot (5,415-meter) Thorung La Pass on the Annapurna Circuit. The popular trek takes hikers around the Himalaya’s majestic Annapurna Range, which features some of the world’s highest peaks and deepest valleys.

Kitchen, Lo Manthang

Photograph by David Stubbs/Aurora Photos

Village women gather under a sun-pierced roof in the walled town of Lo Manthang, where life today proceeds much as it has for centuries. Founded about 1420, Lo Manthang is the capital of Mustang, a remote enclave of Tibetan Buddhist culture in northern Nepal.

Buddhist Spiritualist, Annapurna

Photograph by Brandon Sawaya/Aurora Photos

A trekker on the Annapurna Circuit in the Himalaya visits a lama, or Buddhist priest, to seek a blessing to ensure a successful crossing of the Thorung La Pass, the trail’s most difficult challenge.

Nyatapola Temple, Bhaktapur

Photograph by Juan Manuel Castro Prieto/Agence VU/Aurora Photos

Flashing touches of modernity, a woman descends the steps of the 18th-century Nyatapola Temple in Bhaktapur. Located 8 miles (13 kilometers) east of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur has a strong Hindu heritage and contains so many artistic and architectural marvels that it has been designated a U.N. World Heritage site.